Law:

Section: Art. 8 (I) (a)

(a) Indian Independence (Rights, Property and Liabilities)-----   ------- Order, 1947, Art. 8 (I) (a)-"Contract for the exclusive purpose of the Dominion of Pakistan"-Test-Ex-facie character of con tract to be looked to and not fruits of it-Object rather than reasons or motives prompting contract-"Purpose" means immediate object and not benefit to be derived therefrom.   In order to determine the purpose of a contract in terms of cl. (1) (a) of Article 8 of the Indian Independence (Rights, Property and Liabilities) Order, 1947 the contract must be judged by its character ex facie and not by what the parties may do with the fruits of it. Thus the object or the subject-matter of the contract is rather to be looked to and not the reasons or motives which prompted it, The purpose of the contract, therefore, must be the immediate object sought to be achieved thereby and not the benefit to be derived therefrom.   It seems clear upon the language of the Article itself that some kind of artificial test must be applied to determine what is `a contract for the exclusive purpose of the Dominion of Pakistan' for, obviously the Dominion of Pakistan was not in existence prior to the 15th August 1947, and all contracts dealt with under the said Article must, have been made before the said date with undivided India. Hence if it is to be determined whether the purpose or the subject-matter, of such a contract is one which has or bas not become exclusive purpose of the Dominion of Pakistan, what is necessary to consider is as to what would have been the position if either the contract had been entered into after the 15th of August 1947, or Pakistan had come into existence at the date the contract was entered into. By applying this legal fiction if it is found that the subject-matter of the contract is one in which after the 15th August 1947, only the Dominion of Pakistan could be interested, then the liability under the contract would be a liability in which in terms of Article a (I) (a) of the Indian Inde pendence (Rights, Property and Liabilities) Order, 1947 would be a liability arising under a contract the purposes whereof became…